Kaine, Whitehouse, Duckworth, Hassan Push Devos to Put New Public Service Student Debt Relief Into Action

Press Release

Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) are calling for swift action from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to implement legislation to bring recently passed student debt relief to borrowers in public service. The provisions, which passed as part of the omnibus spending bill last week, are based on a bill authored by Kaine and Whitehouse to fix a glitch in the Department of Education's Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program that has left teachers, soldiers, social workers, and other public servants with massive loan balances they thought would be forgiven. In their letter to DeVos, the Senators push the Education Department to swiftly implement the provisions and report on its progress within a month, including how the Department plans to alert borrowers that they are eligible for loan forgiveness.

"We look forward to your swift implementation of this newly available funding, as do many hard-working public servants in our states and across the country," the Senators write. "Given the importance of this new funding to our constituents and all Direct Loan borrowers, we request that you brief our staff on your progress implementing these provisions within 30 days."

Congress established the bipartisan loan forgiveness program in 2007 to help teachers, social workers, military personnel, and other critical public service workers pursue sometimes lower-paying careers serving their communities without facing decades of crippling loan payments. The program allows borrowers to erase the balance of their student debt if they spend 10 years working for a nonprofit or government employer while making qualifying payments. Due to a lack of consistent and clear guidance from loan servicers and complicated program requirements, some borrowers believe they are making qualifying payments under the program when they are not.

Kaine and Whitehouse's bill would allow loan forgiveness for public service borrowers who ended up in the wrong repayment plan. If borrowers had been making payments that were as much as they would have paid on a qualifying repayment plan, they would receive full credit for those payments toward loan forgiveness.

The version of the legislation in the spending bill includes $350 million to help borrowers in this situation on a first-come, first-served basis. It also requires the Education Department to develop and make available a simple method for borrowers to apply for loan cancellation, and conduct outreach to help borrowers make use of the program.

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